Home Will Never Get Any Better
by Underworld's-Reject
Summary: Gabriel, recently returned to life, visits the Winchesters and is pleased to find that his two favourite little brothers are with them. Only one of them isn't too happy to see him. The pair discusses unresolved issues about their home and Gabriel tries his best to reassure his brother. But sometimes even archangels, even him, are wrong. Not slash


Summary: Gabriel, recently returned to life, visits the Winchesters and is pleased to find that his two favourite little brothers are with them. Only one of them isn't too happy to see him. The pair discusses unresolved issues about their home and Gabriel tries his best to reassure his brother. But sometimes even archangels, even him, are wrong. Sometimes the promises and words and unintentionally hollow. Not slash.

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or any of the characters. If I did, there would be like so much slash, okay?

**Warnings: Ummm…Swearing, I think. Angst, holding grudges, Heaven mentions, war mentions, violence, anger, drinking of whiskey, depressing conversations, character death. More angst.**

**AN: So…I started writing this at like 2am this morning, planning on having a nice Balthazar and Gabriel brother one shot to cheer me up after the depressing Balthiel I wrote beforehand. Instead, it started to become serious, broody and angsty and I was like 'well, okay then…Um, here we go with the death and stuff.' So, yeah. Like I said, I started this at like 2am…**

**Not sure if Balth and Gabe are a little out of character. I don't know, they're having deep, meaningful and serious conversations.**

/

It was not often that an angel would encounter an archangel brother who had apparently 'died' an extremely long time ago, but had in reality fled, took up residence on Earth and adopted the persona of Loki, had then revealed himself and been killed by Lucifer. And was now alive, apparently.

And such an experience was no less surprising for Balthazar, nor Castiel. The day had actually started as no different to any other really. Balthazar had swung by to see Castiel and had found him talking to, what a surprise, the Winchester brothers. Two thorns in the side of the world, if there had ever been any. The trio had been discussing the war, and Sam's recently returned soul and he had just been really pitching in with sarcastic and mocking remarks. Everything had been downright average until Castiel and Dean, who had been sitting right next to each other, had been suddenly engulfed in a ring of holy fire. Naturally, he had found this hilarious. The Winchesters and Cas on the other hand, not so much. Then things had steadily got weirder when maniacal laughter filled the air and shortly after that, Gabriel appeared. After some brief persuasion from the younger Winchester, he had freed the pair. And after greeting Dean and Castiel, he had then had a nice little reunion with the younger Winchester, who he was now chatting animatedly to.

The bastard had seen him, Balthazar decided. He knew he was over by the window, but it was almost like the archangel was awaiting some kind of acknowledgement from him. He did not plan to give him any. He was too busy glaring over at the archangel to realise that all conversation had ended. And wasn't truly aware until four sets of eyes turned on him: Dean's bored, Sam's confused, Castiel's concerned and Gabriel's slightly troubled.

The archangel's face then broke into a grin and he clapped his hands, slowly advancing towards the blond and spreading his arms wide as he drew nearer. "Hey, Balthy. You alright over here?" he said, in a tone that was almost coaxing.

Balthazar's glare intensified and he slipped past the archangel, moving to lean against the table. "Piss off," he replied icily, not even bothering to make out that he was joking. He glanced at the other three out of the corner of his eye, noticing that Castiel seemed to understand but that the Winchesters were glancing at him with twin expressions of confusion.

"Ooh, ouch. That's a bit rude, Balthazar. Rudeness is bad, and not to mention unnecessary right now," the archangel groused, weakening the effect of his complaint with a smirk. Balthazar clenched his fists so tightly that the knuckles turned white.

"Unnecessary?" he snarled, incredulous. "How dare you stand there and-" he cut himself off, suddenly hyper aware of the two hunters presence, their inquisitive gazes. No. Now was not the time to do this.

The corners of Gabriel's mouth turned down into a frown and he then vanished from his spot by Sam and appeared a little way off from Balthazar. He moved towards him slowly, as one would approach a wounded animal, and eventually came to a stop beside him. He poked him in the side lightly, and received a glare in response. "Hey Balth," he ventured cautiously, only to receive no response. "Balthy…" Once again he was glared at. "Oh come on Balthy boy, talk to me." A faint rising of the eyebrows and a small scoff.

Right. It was time for him to pull out the big guns. He gave his brother another nudge, smiling. "Say hello Balthy Babe. Then we can go and talk about this. Or you can hit me if you like. I'll let you, because I'm such an awesome brother. Balthy Babe…"

"Hello, Gabriel," Balthazar finally replied, his slight smirk detracting somewhat from his weary tone. Even though he was unimpressed and annoyed, there was no way he could not respond to that nickname.

"Balthy Babe?" Dean repeated softly, raising his eyebrows at Castiel. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Don't ask," Castiel muttered back simply. Gabriel grinned and patted the blond on the shoulder.

"So…Why are we pissed? Why is Balthy being a monster grump?"

"Don't even do that," Balthazar groused, shoving him away. "I'm not a child, Gabriel. That's your role to play, I believe."

Gabriel heaved a sigh, visibly deflating slightly and then gave him puppy dog eyes. "Oh come on…This is so not how this was supposed to go."

"Um, what's going on? Seriously…This thing with you two, these, er, issues?" Sam piped up, unable to prevent the curious words from crossing his lips. Castiel glanced at him and shook his head, silently telling the younger Winchester that he shouldn't have asked. Balthazar whipped around and issued Sam with what could only be defined as a death glare.

"Nothing that concerns you, Winchester. I know you boys have a tendency to believe that you have the right to know everything but you're _wrong_," he growled, before turning away and vanishing.

"What crawled up his ass and died?" Dean asked, his eyebrows shooting up to his hairline. "Seriously, dude's got issues."

"We've all got our crosses to bear, Deano," the archangel remarked, sighing and locking eyes with Castiel briefly. "Cas, we'll talk again later, alright? I hear you're having problems with ol' Raphy."

"Yes, brother. We will reconvene later," Castiel agreed with a slight smile.

"Boys," Gabriel continued, turning towards the Winchester and flashing them a grin. "Catch ya later!" He then vanished, tracking Balthazar by his grace and heading to his location.

He found Balthazar in a rather lavish and well adorned mansion on Earth, leaning against a mahogany piano, with a glass of Whiskey in his hand. He couldn't say he was really surprised to be honest. Balthazar was an angel of good taste. He moved over to his brother, Balthazar materialising of second glass of whiskey and handing it to him when he approached.

"New blend I just gave you there. Thought it would be more up your street. Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey," he informed the archangel flatly. Gabriel smiled slightly and sipped it, nodding in approval.

"You were right," he answered, grabbing a chair and straddling it, draping his arms over the back. "Alright, Balth. I'm here. The others aren't. Talk to me, bro."

"There's nothing to talk about, is there?" Balthazar retorted coolly, sipping his whiskey. Gabriel sighed, any trace of amusement fading his expression completely.

"Help me out here. It's been a long while and there are pretty much countless reasons you could be pissed off at me right now. I mean, I didn't hide my resurrection if that's what the problem is…I literally found myself alive like a day and half ago. Came straight to you and the others after sorting a few things," he mused, looking around thoughtfully. "I mean really-"

"You left, that's what the problem is! In fact, you didn't _even_ leave, you made us think you were dead," the blond interrupted angrily. Gabriel pulled a face, sighed, drunk the rest of the whiskey and then turned towards him.

"Yes… Yes I did. And it was _wrong_. It was the wrong thing for me to do, I realised that too late. So I decided to get involved and help the Winchesters, of course…That got me killed by Lucifer, but at least I died doing the right thing," he replied softly. "I'm sorry, Balth. Maybe if I'd stayed, I could've stopped things from going to…Shit, really." He squeezed the younger angel's shoulder, who was regarding him through thoughtful cyan eyes. "I shouldn't have left you kids behind."

"No, you shouldn't," Balthazar agreed with a troubled sigh. "Then again, I can hardly talk. I left eventually too. Even pulled the same stunt. Faked my own death, stole some of the weapons of heaven, settled down on Earth, did whatever I wanted, even adopted the persona of a Crossroads demon for a little while recently. Cas thought we were both dead." Gabriel smiled sadly and sighed.

"I doubt it's much consolation to him but at least he knows we're both alive now. And I'm not planning on going anywhere this time. We'll help Cassie defeat Raph and hopefully things won't be…So bad upstairs."

"Things will _always_ be bad," Balthazar countered, eyes devoid of any of the usual mirth that swam in them. "There will always be something, someone that makes that place awful. Whether it's an angel whose dead or the next power hungry bastard, or even the memories of the past. Heaven has never been the same since Lucifer rebelled and father left. It never will be. There will always be some reason to fight, and some reason many of us to die."

"You're probably right," Gabriel acknowledged simply, abandoning the chair and hoisting himself up to sit on top of the piano. Heaven had just never functioned well since Lucifer had fallen and God had skipped out, just as Balthazar said. It was always that way, even after the apocalypse had been averted. "It's because…Father made us to be soldiers originally, as you know. To obey. And then slowly that was all ripped apart. Don't get me wrong, I personally think that is better that we're free and all that, but some of them just can't understand. The old ways are ingrained in many. They need to be led. They need to serve."

"They'll die. They will all die," the blond replied grimly. "Times have changed. The apocalypse was averted by none other than the Winchesters and Castiel himself. God didn't pop up and protest. Surely that's enough proof that they should abandon that cause. Raphael is an insane dick too. What the hell is he think?"

"I don't know, Balthazar. I don't know. But it doesn't matter," Gabriel murmured solemnly. "Because he _will_ die. He has to, if there's ever going to be any chance of peace. I'll give Cas my blade gladly, but I don't know if I could personally kill Raph. Thankfully, it isn't really my place to so I don't have to risk it." Balthazar inclined his head in agreement and moved up to sit beside him.

"It's good to see you, you know," he said, before turning sideways and giving his brother an awkward on top of a piano hug. Gabriel chuckled weakly.

"You too, Balth," he replied softly as he pulled away. "You know, I always thought you and Cas would be grow up alright. I never thought you'd be quite so awesome though." He punched the younger angel firmly in the shoulder. "I'm really proud of you both, you know."

"You're probably about the only person whose has ever said that to me," Balthazar joked weakly with a smile that didn't meet his eyes. The archangel released a heavy sigh.

"Things will be alright, Balthazar," he stated with conviction, even though he didn't know for sure that his words were true. "Just you wait and see. You, me, and Cassie, we'll be alright. Heaven, we'll fix it up somehow. We'll make things right."

When he said those words, he didn't know just how wrong he was. In the end, he was killed at the hand of the last remaining archangel, a brother who he cherished a long time ago. And Balthazar was murdered by Castiel after the younger angel found out that he had secretly working against him. Raphael was obliterated by Castiel after he consumed 50,000 souls from purgatory as were countless angels who had served him.

Gabriel had been wrong. Things would never be okay in heaven. Things never could be. But at least he and Balthazar didn't have to be around to see it.

At least they didn't have to watch heaven meet further destruction at the hands of their little brother.


End file.
